An island of ideas that was deserted in the second half

Rating: 7/10 (2 September 2005)

The Island is a movie that showed a lot of potential in its first hour, but unfortunately, it fell apart after that when it turned into another popcorn summer action flick.
The story of The Island happens in the near future. The entire earth has been contaminated. The people who survived the contamination now live in a Utopian facility. Their only goal in life is to win the lottery, because the winner gets the chance to live the rest of his life in the island, the only place on earth that was not contaminated.
The 2 halves of The Island are like 2 separate movies. The first half is a thought provoking sci-fi. It raises a lot of intriguing questions like "How clones should be treated, as products or as human beings?" & "Is there a paradise (an island) for the believers (the ones who win the lottery)?" Unfortunately, the second half was your typical Michael Bay movie, so you know what to expect: big explosions, car chases, quick cuts, and loud music. That half wasn't bad by any means, but the problem is that the first half was so much better that the second half felt worse than it really is. Also, there was little originality in that half, unlike the first one.
The Island had a big cast, but the majority of the actors had almost nothing to do. Michael Clarke Duncan & Steve Buscemi were on-screen for about 15 minutes, and Djimon Hounson did nothing but shout phrases like "You can't let them get away, You have to catch them, Etc". Ewan McGregor and Sean Bean gave good performances, but I was let down by the performance of Scarlett Johansson. Considering her talents and her past work, I expected much more from her.
I have to say that Michael Bay did a good job in directing The Island. The sets were great, the pacing was generally good, and for the first time in his career, he directed a movie that will make the viewers think during and after watching it. Anyway, I think the special effects looked fake in the aerial pursuit scene, and I think the car chase scene was worse than the one Bay has made in Bad Boys 2.
So I'd recommend watching The Island. Sure, it could have been a much better movie, but in the end, it's still a movie that will make you think and keep you entertained at the same time.